Euro 2020: The morning after the night before - mass clean-up begins after England fans' street celebrations
In excess of 20 million people were predicted to have watched the Euros semi-final on TV, and there were jubilant scenes across the country following the win after extra-time..
Thursday 8 July 2021 12:50, UK
England's historic win against Denmark sparked scenes of jubilation across the country, but not everyone was happy about the mess that was left behind.
More than 60,000 fans packed the stands at Wembley for last night's game, while the streets of London filled with celebrating supporters after the final whistle was blown.
And across the nation, streets were strewn with empty plastic pint glasses, food cartons, laughing gas canisters and other rubbish when the celebrations had died down.
Euro 2020: Live reaction to England's historic semi-final win
But by Thursday morning, teams of cleaners had already been deployed to clear up the litter and damage left behind.
Thousands of jubilant fans gathered in London's Leicester Square once the game had finished.
While many were singing and dancing, some fans climbed on to a double-decker bus, balanced on top of traffic lights and scaled phone boxes to celebrate.
Cleaning staff were still seen in the early hours of the morning tidying up the square, with one woman telling the Press Association: "People have damaged the irrigation system and some climbed the fountain.
"There may be an investigation launched into it as we are not sure how much damage was caused."
More than 20 million people were predicted to have watched the game on television, with an estimated 10 million pints ordered throughout the day.
By Thursday morning football anthems were taking over the charts, with the famous Three Lions, written and recorded for Euro 96, at number two of the iTunes song charts, Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline at number three and Atomic Kitten's revamped version of Whole Again, called Southgate You're The One, sitting at number four.
Favourites from the football fans' songbook reverberated around the nation post-match, with players and staff joining a singalong with supporters inside the stadium.
England fans Scarlet Devereux and Lucy Millard, both 18, were elated as they left Wembley.
Ms Devereux said: "It was a brilliant game, the atmosphere was absolutely amazing."
Ms Millard added: "It's the first time in so many years we've been in the semi-finals so it's absolutely amazing. It's coming home."
The Metropolitan Police said 23 arrests were made by officers across London following the match for offences including common assault, public order and assault on police.
England secured a 2-1 victory over Denmark in extra-time when Raheem Sterling was judged to have been tripped in the box and VAR confirmed a penalty decision.
Harry Kane's spot-kick was saved by Kasper Schmeichel, but luckily for the England skipper the rebound fell kindly for him to fire home.
England now face Italy - who are unbeaten in nearly three years - at Wembley on Sunday for the chance to win their first major tournament in 55 years.
Even the Danish ambassador to the UK has said he will be cheering them on, saying "England is my home away from home".
Despite all the excitement around the final, Kane has said it is important for the team to remain focused and not get carried away.
"Of course there's always that feeling in the back of your mind that you've got one more to go, so we don't want to get too carried away," said the striker - who's now scored four in the tournament.
He added: "As the game gets closer I'm sure the excitement and nerves will kick in. It will be a special day but there will be a winner and a loser and we have to make sure we are on that winning side."
Italy are likely to easily be England's toughest test - the Azzurri are now 33 matches unbeaten following their semi-final penalty shoot-out win over Spain.